


A Penny saved is a Penny earned

by AJN13



Series: Nothing Ever goes as Planned [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-04 08:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14589435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJN13/pseuds/AJN13
Summary: When Jake comes back from being undercover, he brings a few surprises with him.Part of what I hope to be a series of different prompts regarding Jake coming back and surprising the squad.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first post on here so please be gentle. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I love this fandom and I hope to keep writing many more stories as inspiration comes. I will continue this particular story line if it looks like people actually want to read it, and as mentioned in the summary, this story will be a part of a collection pertaining to Jake's time undercover.

As Jake quickly steps out of the taxi and up the steps to his apartment building, he begins to wonder, not for the first time, why mobs always insist on doing their sketchy dealings at night. Sure, the night gives them cover and whatever, but damn he felt like he was always cold and tired now. It took six months to finish the assignment, and in that time, Jake had gone through more than he ever could have imagined. Eyes closed, head first, can’t lose. That’s what he had said. He really hates how wrong he had been. He sighs and closes his eyes for a second as he feels his keys turn and finally steps inside the warm building, quickly closing the door behind him. All he had to do now was last until the wedding, two more weeks and then the cops were gonna raid the party, arrest the bad guys, and life was finally gonna return to normal. Well, not completely. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. He shifted the bundle closer to his chest and began to climb the stairs to his apartment. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, Jake found he was beyond nervous to return to the precinct. After all, he didn’t know how the squad was going to react. More importantly, he didn’t know how Amy would react. He left her for six months after telling her he liked her and now he was gonna drop another huge bomb on her. On all of them. He was definitely nervous. The raid had gone well, and he was more than relieved to be done with it all, but he kinda wished he had more time to prepare. More time to get his bearings together. As he reached the precinct, he felt his chest tighten and his palms grow more sweaty. 

“Better to just rip off the band-aid,” Jake told himself and entered the building. 

As the doors of the elevator slid open, Jake couldn’t help but feel like he was finally home. 

“Jake! Welcome back!” Charles exclaimed, while simultaneously engulfing him into a big bear hug. 

“Hey buddy,” Jake breathed out, as he recovered from the momentum of an emotional Charles, “I’m glad to be back”. 

Jake felt his face was stretched wide, a full-on smile that was foreign to him after so long of being away from his friends and co-workers. 

“Tell me everything I missed..”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Rosa expertly wrapped up her quick rendition of the last six months, Jake felt his eyes quickly flicking over the faces of his friends, and finally towards the woman that had occupied his mind the whole time he spent undercover. He couldn’t linger, because everybody would notice and he’s pretty sure Amy wouldn’t appreciate that, but she looked good from the quick glances he could manage. Jake wondered if she was still with Teddy but was thrown out of his ruminations and back into the conversation when he heard the captain's voice. 

“You now have 12 seconds for personal anecdotes..”

Perfect Jake thought. He only had 12 seconds to explain something that needed way more than 12 seconds. Just as he opened his mouth to begin the extremely simplified version of his six months, the elevator dinged. Right on time, Jake thought. Turning around, he spotted the familiar brunette, her eyes dancing around the precinct until she spotted him. As she neared, she smiled at Jake and Jake approaching the woman, reached towards her hand to grab what the women had trailing behind her. 

“Thanks for bringing her Susan, I owe you one,” Jake said as he grabbed hold of the little girl, who upon seeing Jake, had begun to smile and babble, and raise her arms up to him. Jake crouching down, swung the little girl up, placed her on his hip and gave a quick kiss to her cheek. The little girl only squealed in delight and began her toddler examination of her surroundings. 

“You owe me a lot already Jake,” Susan laughed. “I’ll be back in a few hours.” 

“Thanks Susan” Jake replied. Susan, turning back to the elevator, waved her goodbyes to Jake, the little girl, and the group of people that were all now standing still, mouth agape at the interaction happening before them. 

Jake turned back around to them, the little girl happily placing her head in the crook of his neck and giving an exaggerated yawn. He would have laughed if he wasn’t so damned nervous. 

“So...everyone..” he paused, lowering his gaze to the little girl. “Meet my daughter, Penelope.” 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There. Jake had said it. They all knew now. But obviously, a group of detectives were going to need a little more information about how their friend and colleague left for a six month assignment and came back with a one year old kid. And that’s how Jake found himself in the Captain’s office, surrounded by his perplexed friends, who were now watching and waiting for him to begin his explanation. 

“Well, first of all, I think my 12 seconds are up,” Jake joked, trying his best to ease the tension and discomfort he was feeling, but nobody said anything in return. After another beat passed, Jake placed Penelope, who had now fallen asleep, onto the Captain’s couch. Captain Holt, finally, was the first to speak up. 

“Peralta,” he started, gesturing towards him and the sleeping child. “I think I can speak for the whole squad when I ask, how did you come about fathering this child?”

“Well it’s a long story really,” one he very much did not want to get into, but he owed it to his squad, and especially Amy. 

“It was about one month into the op. when Leo started feeling like I was really one of the guys” he started, “the thing is, once Leo starts thinking that way, he starts to take care of his guys.” 

“Drugs or chicks, right?” Rosa stated. Jake looked up at her, and gave a slight nod, his eyes sending a message of gratitude to his friend, who had finally seemed to recover from the shock. 

“Yeah,” he continued. “So one night, Leo sends me one of his girls as a thank you of sorts for helping him out with..something” he wasn’t quite ready for a full disclosure of what had happened undercover, “and I took her to my place, but obviously I didn’t do anything.” He quickly looked up at Amy, and she gave him a slight nod, so he continued. “I brought her some food and when she realized that nothing was going to happen, we just started talking. Her name was Esperanza, and she was 23 years old, been in the business longer than she cared for, and had no one she could really depend on to help her. So, we kinda became friends in a weird way, and afterwards, I told Leo that I liked her. After that, he would only ever send her. She knew I was an ex-cop and after about 3 months of hanging out, I’m pretty sure she knew that I was undercover or something, but she never said anything about it. She told me once that I was the only guy she felt safe around, that she had spent the majority of her life around,” He quickly glanced down to make sure Penelope was still sleeping before continuing, “dick guys, that had fucked her over time after time and she knew when a guy was being genuine or not. She said I was definitely one of the good ones,” He said with a grin. “I was about half-way through month 5 of the op. when it all went to hell.” He felt his stomach begin to clench and roll, felt his face twist into a grimace. 

At this point Jake had to stop. He needed to regroup himself before he caused a scene in the Captain’s office. Again. Jake was wringing his hands, felt the stinging behind his eyes and willed himself not to cry. He looked up to his friends, seeing the sympathetic looks of understanding and he knew they understood how this story was going to end. 

“One night, there’s this sudden knocking on my door, and when I open it, it’s her, carrying Penelope in her arms. I knew she had a kid, but I had never seen her, so I knew something was definitely wrong. She starts rambling about how she fucked up with one of her John’s, pissed him off, and that Leo was not gonna be happy. I tried to calm her down, but she wouldn’t. She said the John was a close friend to Leo, so now Leo was gonna be pissed too. I offered to try and help, maybe smooth things over for her but she said she wouldn’t get in the way of what I was working on. She also didn’t have anybody to leave Penny with, so she made me promise to look after her, at least until she fixed the mess she had made. About a week later, they find her shot dead in the park and Leo’s telling me I need to find a new girl.” Jake wipes a hand across his face, as if trying to wipe away all the bad memories, and releases a heavy sigh. 

“I made a promise to a friend, so I adopted Penelope.” He smiled down at the sleeping form and then looked up at his friends. “The good thing about working with the FBI is how quickly they can get paperwork through when they’re motivated enough,” he smirked. “And I definitely motivated them.”

After a heavy moment of silence, Terry is the first to speak up.

“Jake, I gotta say I’m proud of you,” the sarge begins “But, did you really think this through? I mean raising a kid is not easy.” He says as tentative as he can without trying to insult Jake’s choice. 

“I know Sarge. Believe me, I spent a great deal of time thinking if I was gonna be able to do this, but I realized that even though I might not be the most put together, I was definitely going to try my hardest to become the best father I could be to this little girl.” He said, with as much conviction as he could muster. 

“Well son, I’m proud of you” the Captain voiced in his usual monotone way, but with a slight smile. Jake smiled back, feeling a bit more uplifted by having his Captain’s approval. 

“Yeah Jakey, we’re here for you 100%” added Boyle, which he already suspected was going to be his friends response. 

Rosa just gave a light nod that communicated more than words could ever say. 

“Don’t worry Jake, Auntie Gina is here to make sure that little angel grows up ready to take over the world”. 

Jake never felt more supported in his life. 

Amy stood there frozen until everybody turned their focus on her and she quickly mumbled a, “we’re here for you, Peralta” before Penelope began to stir and her cries began to fill the office. 

“Hey Penny,” Jake murmured while he began to pick up the crying toddler, “don’t be scared, daddy is right here.” 

If anybody had lingering doubts, they quickly vanished upon seeing the love and adoration filling the detectives eyes as he picked up his daughter and calmed her down. Once Penelope stopped crying, Jake wiped the tears aways and turned back to his friends. 

“Everybody, meet Penelope Esperanza Peralta,” he signaled with his free hand towards the child that was no longer crying but watching with wide curious eyes at the faces now taking her in.

“Penny, meet the rest of your family.” 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was a few hours later that Amy found herself in the evidence room, looking to collect her thoughts and wrap her mind around the fact that her goofball partner was now a father. A father! How is it that her immature childlike partner was now responsible dad Jake? Amy was too consumed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the source of her confusion entering the room. 

“Hey Amy.”

Amy quickly turned to face him, surprised and shocked to see him there. 

“Hey Jake,” she awkwardly replied. “Shouldn’t you be out there with Penelope?” She was about 90% sure a child shouldn’t be left unsupervised in a police precinct. 

“It’s fine, she’s already got everybody wrapped around her finger, so she’s very well taken care of right now.” His smile was so bright that Amy forgot for a moment that there was a pressing matter they had to deal with. 

“Look Ames, about what I said before I left..”

“I’m still with Teddy!” She blurted. She had to tell him before he said anything else. His face quickly fell before he recovered and she felt her heart break a little. She really didn’t want to think about why. 

“That’s good, I’m happy for you,” Jake gave her a strained smile before he continued. “I just wanted you to know that I meant every word, I didn’t expect for anything to happen but I just want to be honest, and nothing’s changed about that, but I’m glad,” he said as if trying to convince himself more than her, “because obviously right now my only focus is going to be on Penelope, so I guess it all worked out for the best, huh?” He released an awkward chuckle, and began to wring his hands. 

“Yeah, I guess it did.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she brought up the only thing she knew would lighten the mood. “So tell me about Penelope..”

After about 20 minutes of hearing her partner ramble on about his daughter, she realized that although it came about an unconventional way, Jake was meant to be a father. His face glowed every time he mentioned his daughter and even though she knew it wasn’t an easy adjustment for him, he was more than ready and willing to be a dad. She couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. She had also noticed that underneath all the excitement, the death of his friend had taken more of a toll on him then he had let onto earlier. 

“She seemed like a really nice person,” Amy said after Jake finished his retelling of a moment where Esperanza had tried to get his apartment a little more organized, and had given up after five minutes. 

“Yeah, she really was..” Jake said wistfully, adding a bit quieter, “She deserved better.”

 

After that, Jake and Amy returned to the bullpen to find Gina and Charles in a heated discussion over who was going to buy Penelope’s new wardrobe, and the Sarge and Rosa both chasing after the toddler who had escaped and begun to run around the precinct. 

“Yup,” Jake thought, “he was definitely home.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is part 2 finally! thank you all for your wonderful comments and the kudos, I really appreciate them! I know this took a while, when I was working on it, I found out B99 was cancelled so I was bummed and had no motivation but then it was renewed! yay! but then I had finals and blah blah so now I worked hard to get it as good as I could but it probably still sucks! haha anyways, please be gentle and enjoy!

It had been a difficult 3 months since Jake returned from being undercover and had brought along with him the news of being a new dad. Jake often found himself relying on his family from the nine-nine to help him get through the obstacles of fatherhood and being a single parent. 

After his return, Captain Holt had given Jake an extra week off in order to settle himself and Penelope, seeing as how now he worked an actual day job again, and had also given Jake some advice that he often found himself relying on to get him through this newfound fatherhood. 

They were getting Jake’s paperwork settled, officially reinstating him back to the nine-nine, and Penny was comfortably sitting on Jake’s lap, tapping her hands on the captains desk. Jake was huddled over her, skimming through the paperwork and signing whenever he saw a line, occasionally placing a kiss against Penny’s head whenever they would bump heads. Captain Holt just stared, his eyes alternating between the little girl, her father, and the pages that Jake would slide towards him whenever he finished signing them. The Captain prided himself in being able to read people, especially his detectives, and that is why he could immediately tell that his best detective was exhausted. Jake’s eyes were adorned with light purple bags underneath them and his skin looked slightly paler. The captain knew that his detective would have a tough time ahead of him, so he told him, in his usual strong voice, what he hoped would offer some kind of reassurance. 

“It will not be easy,” the captain started, “the most rewarding of things often are not, but you have within you all that you will need, to be the best father that you can be. Believe me when I say, that will be enough.” 

Those words had gone straight to Jake’s heart, causing him to quickly stand up, move Penny onto his hip, and engulf the stoic Captain into a giant hug fighting back tears that had formed in his eyes. Jake had doubts. So many doubts. But the amount of faith that his Captain had in him made him believe that he really could do this. Jake only pulled away until after he felt his Captain’s arms lightly come up and pat him on the back.  
___________________________________

In the three months that followed, Jake found himself in almost constant communication with his Sergeant. After all, Terry was a father that had managed to balance work and his family life for many years with success. Many times, Jake would end up calling his sergeant in all hours of the night, often in a panic because Penny would NOT stop crying no matter what he did, or Penny had some weird goo oozing out of her nose that DID NOT look normal. His sarge took it all in stride. After all, Terry knew being a parent was hard, but he could only imagine how much more difficult it could all be, having to do it by yourself. 

Jake visited Terry and his family almost every week, because of course he needed to learn how to comb and braid his daughter’s hair just like how Terry does it, or learn to cook foods suitable for kids. 

“Eventually, Penny will grow tired of instant mac ‘n cheese,” the sarge had told Jake. 

Of course he was right. So that’s how Jake found himself learning from the best about what it took to be a dad. And when Jake managed to be alone with Sharon, he found himself timidly asking her the question that had occupied his mind nearly every day since he had become a father. 

“How do I fill the gap that the loss of her mom left?” Jake quietly asked her, as he accepted the dripping plate from her hand and began to dry it. “Because she had a mom,” he began to ramble, ignoring the sympathetic gaze from the women standing next to him, “so it’s not like she never knew a mother’s love, ya know? And now she just has me, a makeshift dad that loves her too but I mean it’s not the same right? She’ll be missing something, and I don’t want her to forget that she had a mother that loved her but I don’t know what to do.” 

Jake placed the plate in the rack and steadied himself on the counter, closing his eyes, trying to regain some composure when he felt a soft but firm hand land on his shoulder. Jake looked over and found the misty eyes of his sergeant's wife and a comforting smile. 

“Oh Jake,” she sighed, “I won’t pretend to have all the answers and I know this is a delicate situation, but let me tell you this, whether it’s from a mom, dad, or what have you, love is love. She had a loving mother that did all that she could to protect and provide for her and now she has a loving father that will do the same. I know you Jake, and I know you’ll never let that little girl forget about her mother. You’ll tell her how amazing and strong she was, and one day she’ll understand. But for now, the love you give her is enough, and she’s not missing out on anything, because you’ll give her everything Jake, or die trying I’m sure.” 

Sharon let out a small chuckle at that, and Jake felt himself smiling too. He nodded his head, and gave her a quick hug filled with gratitude before they stepped out and joined the squeals and laughter in the living room. 

__________________________________

It was during the second month of Jake’s return, that Charles and Gina remained true to their promise of buying Penny a new wardrobe. They had show up early one sunday morning appalled that neither Penny nor Jake were ready yet, so Jake popped into the shower for a quick rinse while Charles and Gina watched Penny. The little girl had grown accustomed to her new family quickly, seeing as how she saw them almost every week. 

“Tia Ginny!” the little girl squealed, giggling as Gina tickled her sides while getting her dressed. Sure, Gina had never really liked kids, but Jake was like her brother. Gina loved him and Jake had done something that she had thought to be pretty badass. So, Gina put up with Jake’s kid. It wasn’t too hard though, because the kid was pretty cool and she had beautiful brown curls, and almond eyes and yeah, she was pretty cool.

“Come on kiddo, let’s go see what your bozo uncle is up to in the kitchen,” Gina told the smiling girl as she heaved her off the bed and unto the floor, grabbing the small hand and leading her into the kitchen. Sure enough that bozo was up to something. 

“Gina! Oh, and the beautiful Miss Penny! Good morning!” Charles exclaimed, turning off the stove and dropping the spatula he was holding onto the counter. Charles ran to the little girl, and picked her up giving her a quick smooch and placing her into her high chair all while the little girl smiled and babbled “Tio Charlie! Tio Charlie!”. 

Charles had cooked up what looked to be an entire breakfast buffet, and had begun to feed Penny bits and pieces of some pancake, when Jake finally appeared dressed holding Penny’s diaper bag in his hand. 

“Wow, Charles, I didn’t even know I had this much food in my fridge,” Jake laughed, and Gina rolled her eyes. 

“We don’t have time for this Charles! The stores are gonna be packed by the time we get there.” Gina groaned but sat down and grabbed a plate of pancakes nearest to her. 

“I won’t leave until Miss Penny here has a good balanced breakfast, now eat.” Charles gestured to Jake, and he took a seat between Penny and Gina, smiling at Charles making airplane noises and then digging into a plate-full of pancakes. 

Jake felt exhausted by the time he stumbled home later that day, a sleeping Penny in his arms, and a dozen bags or so hanging off of him. They had spent all day shopping, and had gone to what Jake imagined to be more than one hundred stores. A day seeing Gina twirl around with Penny, and Charles lifting the little girl up onto his shoulders while she laughed like crazy, was enough for him to know that his friends’ love would never falter. Jake had been a little worried that with his newfound fatherhood, his relationships with his friends would change or become strained, but he was very relieved to find out that that hadn’t been the case. 

Jake let the bags slip off his arms and land heavily by the door, while he made his way towards his room. Jake quickly changed Penny, trying not to jostle her too much, and placed her in her crib by his bed. Jake only managed to slip off his shoes, and shrug off his jacket and jeans, before plopping onto his own bed and falling asleep. 

_________________________________

It was during the third month of Jake’s return, and the end of a long day at the precinct, that Jake found himself working late with Rosa on a case. Jake had significantly limited his late nights to just two a week now, his goal being to tuck Penny into bed as often as he could manage. Jake was taking the statement of a witness in the breakroom, and Rosa was sifting through the files of the case at her desk when the elevator dinged and out walked Jake’s babysitter, Penny contently in her arms.

“Susan, what are you doing here?” Rosa asked, quickly standing up and striding to meet the women half-way, her hands clenching in worry. Well, Rosa wasn’t exactly worried, but she always expected the worst, her eyes flicking quickly to the little girl and back to the babysitters face. 

“I’m so sorry to barge in like this, but I had a family emergency come up and I knew that Jake was going to be off work soon, so I thought maybe I could drop off Penny a little bit earlier, do you know where he is?” she asked, turning to look around the bullpen. 

At that moment, Jake walked out of the breakroom surprised and rushing to Susan, grabbing Penny who had reached for him the moment she spotted him. They speak quickly, Jake telling Susan it’s fine, she’s helped him out plenty of times, and to not worry about it. 

After Susan leaves, Jake turns to face Rosa with pleading eyes, “I’m almost done in there, you think you can watch her for a bit?” 

“Sure.. I can.. Do that.” The steely detective looked warily at the child as Jake walked over to Rosa’s desk, and placed Penny on top, scooting everything away from her reach. Jake signaled for Rosa to come closer, grabbing her hand and placing it on Penny’s waist. 

“Here, just make sure she doesn’t fall off and you’ll be fine.” With that Jake turned around and quickly strided back towards the breakroom. 

Jake tried to hurry up the interview, hoping not to leave Rosa with his kid for too long. Only because he knows Rosa is a little uncomfortable around kids, so he keeps glancing up to make sure everything is fine. 

Rosa still has Penny sitting on her desk, with both of her hands now awkwardly placed around his daughters waist to keep her from falling off. Jake can’t help but smile at how hard his friend is trying to keep his daughter entertained and calm. For a moment it just seems like they’re in a staring contest, until Penny reaches up and grabs a handful of Rosa’s hair, and oh boy, Jake knows what’s about to happen and before he can do anything to stop it, Jake watches in horror as his daughter pulls down, hard. Yanking Rosa’s head with full force, Jake sees his friends eyes grow wide. Jake quickly gets up, ready to do some damage control, but as he’s on his way out, Jake sees Rosa’s face grow from shocked to impressed, and then Rosa’s giving Penny a small little smirk and Penny’s laughing. So Jake just turns back around and finishes getting the statement.

On their way out, Jake’s carrying Penny and he’s about to apologize for throwing his daughter onto Rosa without warning, when Rosa quickly tells him “she’s nice” and then soon leaves. 

After that night, when Penny calls Rosa her “Tia Rosie”, while no one ever dares mention it, Rosa now responds with a smile and little wave and Jake feels his heart swell just a little bit more. 

____________________________

Five months. It took five months for Jake to feel any semblance of normal, finally finding a comfortable balance between fatherhood and work. 

It also took five months after Jake’s return for Amy and Teddy to break up. 

Amy was on her way to meet up with Teddy for brunch when she heard a familiar boisterous laugh coming from the nearby park that she was passing. Amy slowly turned around, eyes dancing around the various groups of kids and adults, to finally spot her goofy partner slowly chasing his daughter around the park. Amy stopped to watch the interaction, hypnotized by the beautiful moment. Jake in a simple t-shirt and jeans, running after the beautiful little girl, her brown curls barely contained in two pigtails, wearing a blue dress (that screamed Gina), a white sweater with a puppy on it (that screamed Charles) and a pair of white sneakers (that undoubtedly screamed Jake Peralta). 

Amy finds herself a few moments later approaching the laughing figure with the squealing girl. Jake is lifting her up now, and Amy can’t stop smiling until he turns around and finally spots her. 

“Amy? What are you doing here?” Jake asks, surprised and only a little bit out of breath. Penny now resting on his hip, head tucked into the crook of his neck, Amy feels herself flush at being caught staring at a tender moment between father and daughter. 

“Hey Jake,” Amy nervously starts, “I was just passing by and spotted you guys running around here. Thought I’d say...Hi,” she trails off. 

Amy hadn’t really spent time with Jake after his return, not because of any awkwardness but because he had now become extremely busy, only ever going to work and home. Jake didn’t go out with the squad anymore, still getting his life balanced out and Amy spent most of her weekends with Teddy. 

So they didn’t really have time to hang out like before and Amy definitely hadn’t hung out with Jake’s daughter. Having only seen her the few times that Jake had taken her to the precinct. Amy thought she should remedy that, after all, it was her partner’s kid.

“Penelope, what do we say?” Jake turned to the little girl, expectantly, a small grin on his face. 

“Hi,” the little girl timidly mumbled out, extending her hand towards Amy. Jake beamed, pride evident on his face. Amy smiled and reached out to shake the little girls hand, her heart melting just a little bit more. 

After that, any plans of brunch with Teddy disappeared and Amy found herself having the time of her life. Jake and Amy were both running after Penny now, laughing so hard they ran out of breath quickly. When Penny’s eyes started to droop, they parted ways, huge grins across both their faces. 

It’s when Amy’s on her way out, that she remembers she had someplace to be, and when she finally glances at her phone, she cringes. 

Amy is 3 hours late to brunch, and she has 10 missed calls. 

When Amy finally makes it home, she’s exhausted. Teddy didn’t really appreciate the reason why Amy had practically stood him up, and when all was said and done, Amy found herself single and not all too broken up about it. Amy never mentions it to anyone, but they figure it out eventually. She works with detectives after all. 

Every weekend after that, Amy finds herself at the park with Jake and Penny. Turns out, Jake made it his life mission to always go to the park at least once a week, because as he phrased it, “It’s just what I always wanted as a kid, you know..” he trailed off, but Amy got it. Jake was trying really hard to be the father he always wanted but never had. 

Amy found herself looking forward to those days, excited at the opportunity to see Jake in action and catch up with her partner, whom she had missed like crazy. It definitely wasn’t because Amy thought fatherhood made Jake look extremely attractive, not at all. 

Snapping herself out of her ruminations, Amy found Jake now rolling around on the grass, Penny slowly rolling after him, and Amy thinks, not for the first time, that his childish personality was perfect for fatherhood. Jake’s big heart always caring and loving. 

Amy finds herself fitting comfortably into their little world, even though she’s never been too comfortable around kids, Amy notices that with Jake and Penny, it’s easy. A little too easy to become a part of their world. They continue like this for a while, growing closer, stronger, and happier. 

___________________________

It’s late one Saturday night, and Jake is cradling Penny in his arms, desperate to get her to fall asleep. Amy is coming over tonight with some chinese take-out and as much as he loves his daughter, Jake really wants some privacy in order to figure out what’s going on between him and Amy. 

It’s been months where they’ve hung out almost every weekend, and on their days off. Penny adores Amy, and Jake is positive the feeling is mutual. Jake has seen them interact enough times, when he’s getting them ice cream, or packing up Penny’s things, where he’s sure that Amy doesn't know he’s watching them, and he sees that they are absolutely enamored with each other.

Still, Jake doesn’t dare to hope that maybe Amy would want to get involved with the mess that is his life. Raising a kid isn’t easy, and Amy has no reason to get involved with the difficulties of parenthood. Because that’s how Jake thinks now. He needs to see the future of every relationship he may have, because it’s not just him that’ll be involved, he has to think about Penny too. 

But, Jake’s heart beats like crazy every time Amy laughs, and butterflies swarm his stomach whenever she lifts Penny up like an airplane and makes his daughter laugh.

By the time Amy knocks on his door, Jake has managed to lull Penny to sleep and has her placed in her crib snuggled up to her favorite teddy bear. Jake places a gentle kiss on her forehead, checking to make sure the baby monitor is turned on high, and rushes to the door to let Amy in. 

Jake and Amy settle themselves on his couch, not really watching what’s playing on the tv, eating out of the food cartons littering Jake’s coffee table, both enjoying the comfortable silence. It’s only broken when Amy spots a picture fame by Jake’s television stand with a photo of someone she doesn’t recognize. 

“Who is that?” Amy asks, standing up to grab the picture and get a better view. Amy’s only curious because the women in the picture has the most beautiful brown curls that she most definitely recognizes. Jake walks over to Amy, taking the picture from her hand and giving her a wistful smile. 

“It’s Esperanza,” Jake starts, “I managed to find a picture of her when I located her place, after she disappeared. I figured Penny should know just how beautiful her mother was.” 

Amy feels her heart constrict, the sadness in Jake’s eyes filling her with the strong need to comfort her friend, so she slips her hand into Jake’s and gives it a tight squeeze. 

“Every time I look at it, I hear her voice telling me to get my head out of my ass,” Jake laughs. Amy lets out a little huff, a smile tugging at her face, and Jake turns to her, eyes shining. 

“She told me to get the hell out of my own way, that life was too short to be scared about taking chances that were worthwhile.” 

Amy feels her breath hitch, her heart hammering in her chest. Jake just stares at her, eyes flickering all over her face, landing on her lips before moving back to her eyes. 

 

“Amy, I really like you. My feelings haven’t changed from the night I went undercover, but my situation has. As much as I would want something to happen between us, I have Penny now, and I can’t expect you to..” 

Whatever Jake was going to say was cut off by Amy pulling him towards her, and pressing her lips to his. 

Jake’s shock wore off quickly, and he found himself wrapping his arms around Amy and pulling her closer to him. Their lips working in frenzy, parting to finally taste each other, exchanging heated breathes and light moans. All too quickly, Amy breaks the kiss, staring into Jake’s glazed eyes. 

“Jake, I’m in this. I didn’t realize just how much I cared until I saw you walking away from me that night. And I was scared, so I stayed with Teddy. But, I’m not scared anymore. I want to be with you, and I adore Penny. I want the whole package.” 

Jake stares at Amy for a moment, digesting her words before pulling Amy towards him again, pouring all that he can’t say yet, into the kiss. 

Amy stays the night, but they only make it past the couch, conscious of Jake’s sleeping daughter in his room.

The next morning, Penny’s cries filter through the baby monitor, jostling Jake and Amy awake. Amy sends Jake to make coffee while she settles the crying the toddler, and when Amy meets him in the kitchen, Jake places a quick kiss on his daughter's forehead and another on Amy's lips. 

It’s sweet and chaste, but full of promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter for this particular story line for "A Penny saved is a Penny earned", I don't plan to write anymore but maybe in the far future (maybe). I still do plan to continue the series of "Nothing ever goes as planned", so stick around if interested :) thanks! 
> 
> Thank you for the kudos! but please also comment if you can!

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, if you want part 2, let me know!


End file.
